When you’ve got a vagina, you’ve in all probability been advised that it’s an absolute should to pee instantly after having intercourse to forestall urinary tract infections (UTIs). However it turns on the market isn’t numerous proof to assist this concept. There’s shockingly little analysis on the query of whether or not this oft-repeated recommendation really works. One examine in a journal referred to as Proof Primarily based Observe discovered that, total, it doesn’t appear to make a distinction. However that’s only one examine, and the outcomes didn’t level strongly in both course.
The American School of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) doesn’t embody peeing after intercourse in its suggestions for stopping UTIs. Right here’s what they do suggest:
- Wash the pores and skin across the anus and the genital space.
- Drink loads of fluids (together with water) to flush micro organism out of your urinary system.
- Empty your bladder as quickly as you’re feeling the urge or about each two to a few hours.
They level out that components like being pregnant, having diabetes, or going via menopause can improve your threat of contracting a UTI. And a few individuals simply appear to be extra vulnerable to them: In the event you’ve had UTIs earlier than, your probabilities of getting one once more are greater than someone who has by no means had one.
That stated, in the event you’ve been peeing after intercourse, there’s no have to give up that behavior. Whereas there’s no conclusive proof that it helps, there’s additionally no conclusive proof that it hurts—and even that it’s ineffective.
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Does peeing after intercourse stop being pregnant or STIs?
Whereas we’re at it, I’d like to say two myths which have gotten combined up in the entire peeing-after-sex recommendation. Peeing after intercourse is not prone to stop being pregnant, or to forestall sexually transmitted infections.
Relating to stopping being pregnant, sperm go into the vagina, not the urethra. These two holes are shut to one another, however they aren’t the identical factor, and the pee that leaves your urethra has no affect on what’s happening in your vagina, cervix, or uterus. People who find themselves attempting to change into pregnant could have heard the recommendation to delay urinating for no less than a short while after having intercourse to let gravity help their possibilities in conceiving—however the American Society for Reproductive Medication notes that “this perception has no scientific basis.”
Urinating after intercourse has not been discovered to have a major impact in your threat of contracting HIV, chlamydia, herpes, or every other sexually transmitted an infection. To forestall STIs, ACOG recommends utilizing condoms, being conscious of the elevated threat of anal intercourse or different acts that can lead to breaking the pores and skin, and ensuring to get vaccinated in opposition to HPV and hepatitis B, each of which might be transmitted sexually.
